BHUBANESWAR: Years after finalising the plan to relocate the wholesale vegetable market from Unit-I, which has been causing congestion and other civic problems in the capital’s core areas, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally started work on establishment of a modern wholesale market at Bhagabanpur on the city outskirts.
The market will be developed at an estimated cost of around Rs 45 crore on nearly 9.36 acres of land close to National Highway-16.
The corporation has invited proposals from reputed agencies for execution of the project on a turnkey basis, covering design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance for a minimum three years.
BMC’s engineering wing will oversee implementation of the project through an agency to be selected after the tender process. The project is being targeted to be completed within two years after award of the work, city engineer Narad Chandra Rath said.
The vegetable wholesale market is being planned as an integrated logistics-oriented trading hub with modern infrastructure to improve distribution across Bhubaneswar and nearby regions, he added.
The existing Unit-I market has been operating on four acres of land since 1957. As many as 49 wholesale vegetable vendors are doing business in the market and more than 200 trucks transport vegetables from the market to various places in the state every day. The market, however, has long been blamed for traffic congestion and poor logistics movement in the core area of city.
Civic officials said the new facility has been strategically planned near NH-16 to ensure seamless regional connectivity and efficient movement of transport vehicles. The market will feature double-storey trading units with industrial flooring, dedicated loading and unloading bays, internal circulation roads, truck parking zones, paver block parking spaces, driver rest rooms, public toilets, guard rooms and organised service infrastructure.
The project will also include internal water supply and sanitation systems, electrical infrastructure, transformer yard facilities, DG sets, firefighting and fire detection systems, storm water drainage networks, rainwater harvesting structures, landscaping, signages, plaza and kiosk areas and external facade development.
Solar power systems and energy-efficient lighting have been incorporated in the project plan to promote sustainable operations and reduce power consumption, officials said.